The Hacketten - the ceramic or plastic triangular saddle - is the packing that solves two problems rings cannot: it resists nesting into a solid bed, and it keeps a path open for solids and for liquid redistribution.
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A saddle sits on three points, so stacked saddles touch each other on small areas rather than nesting face to face. The practical consequences are what the product is bought for:
| Free space through the bed | The open geometry keeps a connected path instead of a stack of closed cells, so gas and liquid redistribute continuously up the bed |
| Resistance to fouling | Fewer flat contact areas means less bridging and less opportunity for solids or polymer to blind the bed |
| Strength in ceramic | The arch form carries load well, which matters in tall ceramic beds where rings crush at the contact points |
Dirty or scaling services. Where the liquor carries solids, where scaling is expected, or where the bed will be washed rather than replaced, the saddle's open structure is worth more than the surface area a ring would add.
Tall ceramic beds. The arch carries compressive load better than a ring wall, so a deep bed can be built in ceramic without crushing at the contact points.
Heat transfer and gas cooling towers. Where the duty is contacting rather than fine separation, the pressure drop and the open path matter more than maximum surface per cubic metre.
Where the duty is a clean absorption or stripping service at high efficiency, a ring uses the volume better: for the Pall ring our published comparison against a Raschig ring baseline shows more than 50 % higher gas throughput and capacity, about 30 % better mass transfer and half the pressure drop. A saddle will not beat that in clean service - its advantage appears when the bed stops being clean.
The honest way to decide is to ask what the bed will look like after two years in service, not on day one.
Product data: Hacketten packing · technical details · alternatives: Pall ring · Teller Rosette ring · comparison: Pall ring vs Raschig ring · guide: packing selection guide.
In clean service the Pall ring wins on capacity, efficiency and pressure drop - our published comparison shows over 50 percent higher throughput and capacity and about 30 percent better mass transfer against a ring baseline. The Hacketten wins where the bed will foul, scale or be washed, because its open geometry does not bridge the way a ring wall does.
Ceramic for temperature and chemical resistance and for tall beds where the arch carries the load. Plastic where the service is at moderate temperature and corrosion resistance is the deciding factor. The published size ranges differ, so the material changes the size you can specify.
By bed volume, then checked against the pieces per cubic metre for the size chosen. Every product page publishes the count per size for exactly that reason: the delivered quantity should be verifiable rather than assumed.
Not in one bed. Mixed shapes segregate during loading and during service, and the resulting bed has neither the open path of a saddle bed nor the surface of a ring bed. If a column needs both, use separate beds in series with their own support grids.
We will say which shape suits the service and, where it matters, why the cheaper one is the wrong one here.
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